Jimmy Mubenga begged for his life before dying on deportation flight

A teenager has told the Old Bailey how Angolan man Jimmy Mubenga pleaded for his life while he was “viciously” manhandled on a deportation flight out of Heathrow.

Mubenga, 46, was being deported to Africa after serving a two-year prison sentence for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was travelling on a Boeing 777 when he became agitated and had to be restrained by guards and handcuffed with his seat belt on.

“The three security guards got on top of Jimmy and applied pressure to him and he was crying out for his life,” the 16-year-old boy described to jurors.

“Every time he shouted I saw the man apply pressure to the black man’s wrists by pushing on the handcuffs,’ he said in his witness statement. I also saw him apply pressure on the black man’s neck. [Mr Mubenga] would yell out ‘they’re killing me’ in an exhausted manner.